The Diversity Advantage: Enhancing Inclusion in the Classroom

By Lenora Billings-Harris

Robert, Faheem, Tracee, Kewal, ShaShanda, Hernando, and Sarah are students in today’s typical classroom. Their parents range in age from 23 to 59 years old; two are adopted, two are being raised by their grandparents; two live with one parent; one has gay parents; one has physical limitations; and one student is also a parent. There are four languages and six faiths represented by this group. This is diversity in the classroom.

The word diversity simply means differences or variety. As used when referring to the American society, diversity refers to the many differences among people present in our communities today. Diversity includes all of the ways people are different, not only differences in ethnicity, age, gender, and ability so often thought of as part of EEOC (Equal Employ­ment Opportunity Commission) regulations.

As a teacher passionate about your subject area and eager to create an effective learning environment, how do you celebrate the uniqueness of the students in your classroom and create a learning environment that is inclusive and non-judgmental?  The first step in the process is to honestly get in touch with your own possible stereotypes and biases about difference.

Often people of color think they do not need to do their own diversity work. After all, ‘we have lived diversity,’ why do we need to do any self examination?  Being a member of an underrepresented group does not guarantee immunity to biases and stereotypical beliefs about others.  A stereotype is a generalized statement applied to every­one in the group, as though the entire group is the same. Any belief or characteristic, applied to an entire group, immediately makes it invalid because no characteristics are owned by everyone in the group.

Stereotypical beliefs do come from some degree of truth, however. There is probably someone in the group who fits the stereotype. The challenge is to acknowledge people as in­dividuals without generalizing that individual’s behaviors or characteristics. For example, one stereotype about African Americans is “Black people have rhythm.” It is true that many African Americans are rhythmic. However, all African Americans do not have rhythm, and many people of other cultures do. In the movie, White Men Can’t Jump, the title poked fun at the stereotype about European American men as though none of them could play basketball. Viewers of this movie have the opportunity to see that European Americans, otherwise known as white men, can jump.

There is no such thing as a “good” stereotype. All stereo­typical beliefs lead to inaccurate assumptions about individ­uals, whether the belief is a positive one or not. In the United States, there is a widely held belief that Asian children are smart, especially in mathematics and science. It is true that many Asian American children test well in these subjects. However, they were not born smarter than other people. Their ability, as it relates to these two subjects, is a result of their environment. All Asian Americans are not highly intel­ligent in these areas, although many have grown up in a home environment that strongly supports education. If non-Asians were placed in a similar environment, they too could score well in math and science.

Here is an example of how even a “good” stereotype can be damaging. Imagine you are observing a third-grade class. The class is composed of European American children except for three. One male child is a Latino. Another male child is an African American, and the third child of difference is a Japanese American female.

The teacher is someone you are delighted to have in your school system. He is the type of individual that goes out of his way to help his students excel. He truly loves each child, spends his own money for additional resources, stays after school, and comes in early to be available to assist students in any way he can. In other words, his intentions are good. However, he is not aware of his own stereotypes. Therefore, he is not aware of how those stereotypes impact his behavior.

It’s early in the year, thus he does not yet know his students in­dividually very well. As he plans his lesson, the teacher be­gins to determine which students he may need to spend addi­tional time with in order that they too can perform well. He’s going to teach long division. Which students do you think he will most likely conclude need additional assistance?

The next day he goes into class, teaches long division, and then distributes math problems to each student. He im­mediately walks over to the African American little boy. Now remember, his intentions are good. He wants to help. Is it possible the African American male is doing well? Of course, yes, it is possible. Is it likely that this student will, in some way, let the teacher know that he does not need help? That behavior is most unlikely. The teacher then walks over to the Latino student. Is it possible he too needs no as­sistance? It is unlikely that he will tell the teacher he does not need help.

The teacher never walks over to the Japanese American little girl; even though another stereotype in the United States is girls do not perform well in math and science. In this case the ethnic stereotype is stronger than the gender stereotype. Is it possible that the Japanese American little girl does need help? Of course, the answer is yes. Is it likely she will ask for help? Most likely, no. Even at eight years old, in the third grade, she probably knows from messages around her, in comic strips, from adults, and from classmates, that she is sup­posed to be a good math student. Additionally, she may have learned from her culture never to ask a person in authority a question in public. This would imply that the person in au­thority was not clear, and could cause the authority figure to possibly “lose face.”

Which students has the teacher’s behavior impacted? I hope you would agree that all of the students in the class have been neg­atively impacted. Certainly there would be some European American children who do need help. The teacher neglected them, while the African American and the Latino received unnecessary attention, which could have sent the wrong mes­sage to the other students.

As the children go to the playground, the teacher’s be­havior could now impact their behavior toward each other. Some students might assume that the Latino and the African American are teacher’s pets and start a fight with them. Other students might assume that the Latino and African American must be slow learners because they get so much attention and start a fight with them.

If the students continue to see the same or similar messages acted out, that teacher’s behavior could impact their behavior later in life, when working with people who are ethnically different than they are.

It is impossible to eliminate stereotypes entirely. The best we can do is become more aware of our own stereotypes. This way we can become more aware of how our stereotypes impact our behavior. Becoming aware of stereotypes in­cludes listening to that inner voice that quotes generalized statements, and then choosing not to act on those stereotypi­cal beliefs. It takes a conscious effort to ignore them.

As a former high school teacher, I often remember the note I received from a former student. Her name was Bonnie. I was not as patient with her, as I could have been. Luckily, she never detected that attitude from me. Perhaps because other teachers were more obvious with their impatience.   On my last day of teaching at that school, (I was moving to another state due to my impending marriage) I received a handwritten note from Bonnie and a little crystal candy dish, as a wedding present. In her note, she thanked me for encouraging her to do her best. She shared that no one else had ever believed in her. That was thirty two years ago. I still have the candy dish. I wish I still had the note.

As a teacher, you are so powerful in the eyes of your students. Be careful to honor their differences instead of judging them. You just might change a life.

Sidebar:

Going Beyond Difference in a Diverse Classroom

Suggestions for self-development:

•    Watch a television program or a movie, with a friend, with the specific intention of identifying all of the stereotypical behaviors and statements you observe. Discuss which biases and stereotypes you both observed and which ones you have believed and accepted for a long time.

• Ask someone you trust, perhaps another teacher, to alert you anytime you make a stereotypical comment. It is only with this feedback that you can become more aware of how often you may rely on your own stereotypes.
• When you recognize that you are having a conflict with a student or teacher, identify the many ways that person may be different than you. Perhaps their communication style is different. Values are different. Or perhaps there are visible differences such as gender, ethnicity, or socio-economic factors. Set an objective to evaluate the specific interaction between yourself and that person. In other words, evaluate the facts instead of relying on stereotypes. Then determine objective ways to overcome your possible biases.

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